Suzuka: A glove puppet in the image of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone proved a hit at the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday as Formula One mobilised to help victims of the country's March earthquake and tsunami.
Ecclestone's right-hand man Pasquale Lattuneddu told Reuters that the proceeds from the sale of special merchandise, including the puppets, would go to charities working in the stricken region.
Paintings of the five still-active world champions with their title-winning cars had been commissioned for a charity auction while Ecclestone had bought tickets for 3,000 victims to attend Sunday's race.
With an average ticket cost of around 35,000 yen, that would likely have cost the diminutive 80-year-old British billionaire - absent from Suzuka this weekend despite the race being a likely title-decider - well over 1 million Pounds.
Several of the drivers taking to the track for Friday practice did so with special messages and designs on their helmets.
"We've seen a couple of big disasters this year in Japan and we've seen how strong the Japanese people are and how they've really pulled together when they are in difficulty," said 2009 world champion Jenson Button.
Button's Japanese model girlfriend Jessica Michibata posted a Tweet of herself with one of the Ecclestone puppets, which paddock jesters commended as being almost life-size, outside the McLaren hospitality.
"(Sauber's Japanese driver) Kamui (Kobayashi) is doing a lot this weekend and I'm sure quite a few of the drivers are," said Button, whose red and white helmet will be sold off after the race for Save Japan.
McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton will be donating his race boots to a children's charity.
"This year it is special for us to come here because of the earthquake at the beginning of the year," said Red Bull's reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, who also had a Japanese helmet design.
"I think it also makes it a little bit more special to us to show support. We try to do as much as we can."
The massive quake and tsunami in northeast Japan left about 20,000 people dead or presumed dead and caused billions of dollars of damage.
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